Method of running internal-combustion engines.



G.F.JAUBERT.' METHOD OF RUNNING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION IILBD FEB. 21; 1911.

15099 445; Patented June 9,19%

PUMP

Gnome rnaucors JAUBERT, or mars, runner.

, METHOD OF RUNNING INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 9, 1914.

Application filed February 21, 1911. Serial No. 609,902.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, GEORGE Fnnngois JAUBERT, a citizen of the Swiss Republic, residing at Paris, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Running Internal Combustion Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptioii of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the, art to which it appertainsto make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved method of running internal combustion motors, (such for example as motors burning a liquid hydrocarbon like paraiiin oil, and more particularl the Diesel motors) when utilized for su marine boats during their period of submersion. It has'already been proposed to supply motors of this type during the submersion period with pure oxygen diluted either with the decarbonated exhaust'gases (that is to saywith almost pure nitrogen) or'With these exhaust gases in an unpurified state, (that is to say a gaseous mlxture containing a large quantity of nitrogen and of steam, carbon-dioxid and a little carbon-monoxid and oxygen). 'In the first case a co'mbustionsupporting mixture identical with vatmospheric air is reconstituted; in the second case the combustion supporting mixture although analogous to the air contains in addition a certain amount of steam and carbon-dioxid and perhaps a little carbon-monoxid'.

It is known ithatthe composition of the exhaust gases of a Diesel motor is as follows (Schroetter Journal of the Association of Glggbdn Engineers N0. 30 of the 24th July 189 Motor Motor running with running with full charge. half cilarg. Nitrogen j- 84.8% 82.0 Carbon-dioxid 10.0% 62;", Oxygen 5.0% 11.8% Carbon-monoxid 0.2% 0.0%

I have found that if the operation is precisely opposite to that heretofore adopted, that is to say if the nitrogen be completely eliminated from the exhaust gases and the carbon dioxid retained, Vly important in dustrial results are obtaine If, during the running of a motor of this kind in which the exhaust gases are utilized, the concentration (percentage) of the carbonic dioxid increased in the combustion supporting gas without affecting the pure oxygen, but at the expense of the other two constituents of the exhaust gases, nitrogen and steam which constitute six-scvenths of the exhaust gases,it is found that the carbonic dioxid in this state of greater concentration and in the presence of only a small quantity of steam takes part in the combustion with the liberation of free carbon in accordance with the following equation, this Steam be ing produced by the combustion of the hydrocarbon oil wherein the H inthe hydrocarbon is thereby converted intoH O:

G,H +4CO,,=-11C+8H,O Parofiln Carbon- Carbon Water dloxid It will be noted that the products of this reaction are bot-h non gaseous at the ordinary temperature and can consequently be readily stored on board ship, and need not be discharged overboard during submersion.

The reaction represented by the aboveequation is the-counter-part of the transformation ,of carbon into carbon-dioxid and carbon-monoxid under the influence of the steam.

equilibrium indicates that for the desired reaction to take place it is necessary inthe H mixture undergoing combustion to eliminate the nitrogen, dimmish the proportion of steam and increase the proportion of carbon dioxid and of hydrogen, that is to say in the present case to increase the admission of the hydrocarbon fuel (paraffin). The process .which comprises the subject matter of the present invention consequently consists in efl'ect'ing the combustion-of the paraffin during the submersion period in the presence of a combustion-supporting gas formed of carbon-dioxid and oxygen with the object of causing the oxygen of the carbon-dioxid to participate in the combustion of the paraflin,

of effecting a reduction of the consumption of free oxygen, and a reduction of the noncondensable products in the exhaust gases and of rendering the excess of the exhaust gases readily. soluble in water.

For the purpose of illustrating one form of apparatus suitable for practising the invention, the accompanying drawingshows diagrammatically the installation on a submarine boatof a; two-cycle Diesel motor opcrating in accordance with the improved tion comprises two cylinders a and 6 arrangedend to end, their pistons being arranged in tandem. The cylinder at serves as a compression pump and delivers into a reservoir h, and the other cylinder 6, which is the motor cylinder, has. a valve 0 for the admission of the paraffin oil or other liquid fuel which is conducted to said valve through a conduit (Z. The injection may be effected by means of air or carbon-dioxid under pressure conducted into the valve 0 through a pipe e provided with a three-way cock f. The cylinder 1), through valve 9, is in communication with the reservoir 7]. which is also connected to the compression cylinder a. A valve Z communicates with a conduit z'into which a pump 1' delivers; this pump 9' is driven by the motor and may be placed in communication with the atmosphere by means of a three-way cock is. The exhaust port m of .the cylinder 6 is connected by a pipe at with an exhaust collector 0 upon which there is mounted a threeway cock p communicating on the one hand with the atmosphere and on the other hand with.

a separator condenser q. This separator condenser is connected by a pipe 1- containing a pressure regulator s with a dry separator or purifier t containing at one of its ends an absorbent mass such as peat which may be placed'in communication with a conduit u terminating at the suction chamber of the cylinder a, or with the atmosphere, by means of a three-way cock 2. The purifier t may comprise a device (not shown) permitting of optical examination of the gases. pipe 1- is' fitted with a valve m adjusted in such a manner as to open for a given pres- "sure of the cycle and this branch pipe ends at the suction chamber of a pump y deliveringto the exterior. A rod 10 provided with an operating handle connects the plugs of the cocksz, 1,0, k'and f in such'a manner as to ermit of simultaneously operating the various cocks; I 1 For traveling on thesurface of thewater the. r6d 10 is arranged in such a manner that the cocks' k, p, z communicate with the atmosphere, the; cock then placing. the

paraliin oil inTeEtion; valve in communication with a-compressed air reservolr (not shown), so that the injection of. the paraflin.

oil lI lS produced by means of compressed air.: The. piston 00- draws atmospheric air through the cook a and compresses it in the reservoir 72. from which it is used for scavenging the motor cylinder 1;. The. pump j deliver atmospheric air at suitable pressure through the valve Z into this cylinder 6, this air forming a part of the ex losive mixture with they fuel supplied t rough the Abranch pipe o from the valve 0. The purification appliances q and t are not utilized at this time and the pump dioxid .under pressure supplied through the pipe 0 from a suitable reservoir (not shown).

The exhaust gases of'the motor cylinder are scavenged by carbon-dioxid under pressure furnished, during the first few strokes of the motor after it has been out 01f from the atmosphere, from some convenient source such for example as the reservoir just-mentioned. The exhaust gases are conducted through the conduit 92 to the condenser separator g which retains the steam and to a large extent the particles of carbon that are formed. The dry separator 25 still further removes the dust and the substances in suspension that may have passed through the condenser separator and this filtering is completed by the peat in the dry separator until an optical examination of the gases inclicates complete purification. The purified gascsproceed to the suction chamber of the cylinder (4 through the pipe u, and are compressed into the reservoir h from which they are utilized for scavenging. If desired the reservoir it may be connected through suitable piping to the valve 0, in such manner that the compressed gases therein, whether air or purified exhaust gases, may be used at the proper period of the cycle for the injection of the fuel.

From'the moment of shutting off communication with the atmosphere no fresh nitrogen'entersthe piping and it is only necessary to eliminate that which is already there. The excess of the gaseous products of combustion is, however, constantly bemg eliminated through the valve 00, so that.

the nitrogen that has remained in the reservoirsj g and t is gradually expelled through this valve, this taking place at the end of a very short time in view of the large volume of carbonated gases produced by the combu'stion of the parafiin in the cylinder rela tively to the small volume of the nitrogenated gases contained in the piping and its accessories. In this manner an exhaust gas is obtained which-contains only pure and dry carbon-dioxid with, perhaps, acertain quantity of oxygen which has'e'scaped combustion. From this moment, which is readily determined by the deposits of carbon which form the heatnecess ary for the operation of the engine is produced simultaneously by the. two following reactions,

the pure oxygen involved in'the process during submersion being obtained from a reservoir (not shown) through the pipe 2' and 13a valve Z, although under some circumstances compressed oxygen may be mixed with the carbon dioxid .and supplied to the cylinder 6 throu h the pipe 6 and valvec, if desired. (1) grdinary combustion:

Paraflln Oxygen Carbon- Water dioxid V (2). Decomposition of the carbon-dioxid:

Paraflin 0312231; Carbon Water The final products of combustion are 300,, 110, 1611 0, as may be determined by adding together the right-hand members of equations (1) and (2) and subtracting therefrom the M which is used to break up the paraffin noted in he left-hand member of equations'(2). cordance with the final products of combustion, as rated above, the quantity of gaseous carbon-dioxid or in other words of gas to be expelled overboard, produced by a I given quantity of paraliin, is reduced to about half what it would be if the combustion took place only in accordance with equation numher 1. Similarly these equations show that the consumption of free oxygen isone-half what it would be if all the parafiin were burned in accordance with equation (1). Finally it follows that the excess of exhaust gases which forms in accordance with equation 1 is pure carbon-dioxid soluble volume for volume in cold water and which can readily be disposed of by discharging it into the sea without attracting the attention of the enemy by the presence of bubbles of gas bursting at the surface. In other words this method of supplying the fuel permits of economizing in the consumption of free oxygen which is a point of the highest importance for a submarine vessel as regards its radius of action because the supply of free oxygen gas whether in the form of compressed gas or in the form of chemical products capable of liberating this gas is always bulky; the combustion results in a large quantity of carbon and water both of which products are condensable and the quantity of exhaust gas to be expelled into the ea or to be stored is correspondingly diminished; and the gases to be expelled into the sea contain only pure carbon-dioxid; a gas-which isvery soluble in water, and a small quantity of oxygen.

That is to say in ac-- Obviously the injection of paraflin with air can be retained, the quantity of injected air being very small relatively to a cylinder charge, but in this case it is found that a small quantity of nitrogen is present in the cycle.

It will be at once understood that the invention is in' nowise limited to the apparatus above described, but resides rather in the method of carrying on the combustion, and in the discovery that by increasing the proportion of carbon-dioxid and hydrogen and reducing the nitrogen and steam, the

,dioxid to participate in the combustion of the fuel, diminishing on the one hand the consumption of free oxygen and on the other hand the quantity of non-condensable products in the products of combustion, and rendering the excess products of combustion soluble in water,

2. The method of running internal combustion m0tors, on submarine or the like boats during Surface running and during submersion, which consists in burning a hydrocarbon fuel with air during surface running and. preparatory to submersion, shutting off the air supply and substituting for it a gas formed of carbon-dioxid and free oxygen, to thereby eliminate the nitrogen and cause the oxygen of the carbon-dioxid to participate in the combustion of the fuel, diminishing on the one hand the consumption of free oxy gen and on the other hand the quantity of non-condensable products in the products of combustion; and rendering the excess products of combustion soluble in water.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses] GEORGE FRANQOIS JATJBERT.

Witnesses:

DEAN B. MASON. HENRY SUHWAB. 

